Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-30
DOWN PopocA1epErL's SLOPE.
Descent OH = Sledge Of Mattin:-A Sud.
den Transition-E Perience>.

den Transition-E1per periences.
After an hour in the crater We set ont
to descend To say that the descent was
made more rapidly than the ascent would
be unnecessary. 1t only required an hour
and half to reach the snow line from
the summit. We made the downward
trip upon petates. a petate Is Kind Of
coarse matting-an Indispensable article
in every Mexican Indians household. Ii
would be impossible To enumerate all the
uses To which it is put. Each guide had
one, about four feet square, and he
quickly transformed il into sled or drag,
by folding it in the middle and cutting
a hole in the oblong thus formed. about n
foot from one end. Passing Il small rope
through the hole, he so fastened ii that
one end could be held by the tourist sitting
upon the petate, while the other was in
the hands of the guide. As the latter
dragged the petate through the soft snow,
the occupant Of the same, by holding his
end Of the rope tightly, kept the forward
end of the sled well up of the ground.
The guides carefully avoided the hard
snow, as upon its glazed surface the pc
tates would get beyond their control and
shoot down the mountain with disastrous
results.
The guides themselves often coast upon
petates and steer them without difficulty;
but 10 describe the method by which we
descended Popocatepetl as similar to coast
ing or tobogganing, is very erroneous. II
had discomforts which coasting knows
not Of. The sudden transition from IL
rarer TO Genser atmosphere caused worse
headaches than those we had in the
and l,ain,. lrn.yas.l Snff
filed with sharp pieces Of lava resulted in
many bruises We reached the snow
line in wretched condition Of body, and
in state Of mind that was far from
agreeable. The horses met us there, but
the ride back to the ranch had no joys
whatever Every step the horses took
racked our bodies with pain. We were
thoroughly used up when we reached the
ranch cabins and threw ourselves upon
the hard beds there. For n while We
seemed TO care little whether We ever got
up or not But with perfect quiet the
headaches passed of, as they bad don4
before, the fatigues were forgotten, ar !
after little lunch, to which a small
quantity of light wine was added, we felt
fully restored, excepting as regarded the
soreness Of our muscles. That remaSied,
10 bt aggravated IlfllOst 10 the Hills el
endurance in the horseback ride to Ameca-
meca the next day.
With the return of our physical condi-
tion to something like its normal state.
good humor came back and the second
evening in the uncomfortable raiich house
proved pleasanter than the first. We
summed up the experiences Of the day
comparing them with those Of other noun
tain trips and chatted with our guides.
1t was the time for settling the question
whether the pleasures of the trip had paid
for the pains. The conclusion arrived al
could not be hotter EXPRESSED than in the
words of one Of the party, who. recalling
the glorious view frorn the summit
exclaimed with enthusiasm: II would
not nave missed this trip for 500.
After a moments pause IN which he re
called the discomforts Of the previous
night. the pains and fatigues Of the ascen,
and ,nore particularly those of the descent
he ,.dded with deep feeling: "I'would moi
go again for $1,000. Arthur Howard
Noll in American Magazine.